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Devolution

The revised Wales Bill has seen UK ministers respond to many of the criticisms of the original draft, say Manon George and Huw Pritchard of the Wales Governance Centre, however there still remain points of contention between Cardiff and London.

The UK Government's response to criticism of the draft Wales Bill is more of a staging post than a destination, says Richard Wyn Jones.

When he began the process that would lead to the publication in September 2015 of the Draft Wales Bill, the then Secretary of State, Stephen Crabb, spoke in effusive terms about his determination to achieve a devolution settlement for Wales that would last for the foreseeable future.

He was far from the first Secretary of State to embrace such an ambition.

This paper, by Prof Michael Kenny and Daniel Gover, was submitted as writtren evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee inquiry into English Votes for English Laws (EVEL). It is based on research being conducted at the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London, and is supported by the Centre on Constitutional Change and the Economic and Social Research Council.

The study's final conclusions and recommendations will be published in a detailed report later in 2016.

New analysis by Prof David Bell, a CCC Fellow based at the University of Stirling, has concluded that those benefits newly devolved under the Scotland Act 2016, “are typically older, more likely to be single following the death of a partner, not in employment and heavily dependent on benefits and pensions rather than earned income”.

Professor Bell adds, “Further, those receiving devolved benefits are much less likely to be in households where children are present.”

New analysis by Prof David Bell, a CCC Fellow based at the University of Stirling, has concluded that those benefits newly devolved under the Scotland Act 2016, “are typically older, more likely to be single following the death of a partner, not in employment and heavily dependent on benefits and pensions rather than earned income”.

Professor Bell adds, “Further, those receiving devolved benefits are much less likely to be in households where children are present.”

A landmark new report by the Wales Governance Centre (WGC) at the University of Cardiff, Government Expenditure and Revenue Wales 2016, gives the clearest picture yet of the state of welsh public finances. Guto Ifan and Ed Poole at the WGC, explain that the report shows that public sector expenditure for Wales exceeded public sector revenues by £14.7 billion in 2014-15.

The suggestion that an increase in the additional rate would lead to a mass migration of wealthy Scots has been widely - and rightly - criticised, says David Eiser. However, the likelihood of widespread tax avoidance by higher earners is a very real one.

The SNP has been taking a lot of criticism for its failure to support a rise in the Additional Rate to 50p.

In the first of our new blog series, Politics in a Changing Spain, Dr Robert Liñeira (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) looks at the recent parliamentary election and its implications for the future of Spanish politics.

In their contribution to our majority nationalism series, Antoine Bilodeau of Concordia University and Luc Turgeon of the University of Ottawa share the result of their survey which compares the way in which Quebecers and Canadians construct community boundaries.